The Quest Of Remaking History

New Museum Brings Details Of Jamestown Into Focus

April 15, 1990|By MARK ST. JOHN ERICKSON Staff Writer

JAMESTOWN — For 30 years the hodgepodge of patriotic and historical attractions at Jamestown Festival Park remained mostly unchanged.

Busload after busload of schoolchildren filed past wax figures of the Tudor monarchs and moved on to busts of Virginia-born presidents and relics from the Civil War. In between they ogled paste reproductions of the British Crown jewels and four stuffed penguins brought back from the Pole by the famous Virginia explorer, Admiral Byrd.

Then they bolted outside to see what they came for in the first place - James Fort, the Indian Lodge and the brightly painted reconstructions of the first settlers' ships.

But beginning Tuesday those impatient children will have to think twice before heading straight for the outdoor exhibits. So will any reasonably curious, historically minded adult.

The newly renamed park, now called Jamestown Settlement, will open a vast, nearly 30,000-square-foot museum chock-full of rare artifacts and lavishly illustrated educational displays. The 2 1/2-year, $5.7 million expansion and renovation project tells the story of the first permanent English-speaking settlement in comprehensive detail.

Authentic artifacts, interactive exhibits and a serious commitment to social history will be some of the key ingredients here as the park prepares for the 400th anniversary of Jamestown in 2007.

"We're dealing with an entirely different kind of educational culture than existed when the park opened in 1957," says Ross E. Weeks, executive director of the Jamestown-Yorktown Foundation, the state agency that administers the park. "People know more about history now because of more effective teaching and the impact of the Bicentennial.

"We're getting people here because they're interested in history and not just looking for something fun to do. They expect to learn something - to go away knowing more than they did. We hope this new museum will give them what they want."

The park's original Old World and New World pavilions, constructed for the 350th anniversary celebration in 1957, were considered advanced for their time. They drew on the talents of such leading designers as Leslie Cheek of the Virginia Museum and A. Harold Midgley of the British Central Information Office.

But the splashy displays were never meant to provide more than a brief introduction to the history of the settlement and the park's outdoor attractions. They devoted more attention to such broad themes as England's contributions to American culture and honoring Virginia's past.

The pavilions served the park well for more than two decades. After visitation peaked at about 300,000 annually in 1978, however, things began to go downhill.

The buildings themselves, designed for short-term use, developed chronic leaks, among other problems. The park's surveys of its declining number of visitors began to show mounting disappointment with the displays. Outside, the reconstructed ships were rotting, and the Indian huts were falling apart.

"In general, the exhibits were simply worn out," Weeks says. "They'd been upgraded and maintained over the years, but they were showing their age.

"Based on our feedback from visitors, we knew people wanted to see the real thing or the closest thing to it when they came here. We had to do something to meet those expectations."

The park attacked the problem on several fronts, beginning with the hiring of its first education officer, Sara E. Patton, and an extensive renovation of its outdoor exhibits.

Both the fort and Indian village were improved and expanded, using historical research. Two of the ships were replaced by newly redesigned and authenticated vessels that _ instead of serving as elaborate stage props _ could actually set sail.

Plans for the indoor exhibits began with the proposed addition of an American Indian pavilion, something that had been overlooked in the original exhibition. As preliminary studies progressed, the foundation's board decided to revamp the Old World and New World pavilions, too.

The new galleries, based on recent historical research, concentrate on the story of Jamestown from its founding in 1607 through its first 100 years. They also incorporate hundreds of original objects and artifacts from a new collection assembled by a greatly expanded curatorial staff.

The result is a dramatic departure from the old park of 1957. No longer merely a patriotic festival site, Jamestown Settlement will open its doors Tuesday as a full-fledged, formally accredited history museum. And instead of celebrating the past, it will do its best to explain how and why this important period in American history came about.

"For the first time, there's something of real intellectual merit there," Weeks says. "It has real content where it didn't before."